Marvel: 2010-09-04 - Space Politics: The Arrival of Forge
Dinner is taken care of, the search party has started, and Scott did some searching in the front part of the lake and around it when he got a mental call from Xavier about Forge. Course, when he gets it, he sees Beast gawking at the crashed space ship in Breakstone Lake. "Hank, we have to meet someone out front. The Professor is occupied, but apparently it is a man named Mr. Silvercloud that will be joining us to assist in investigating the space ship...and no, you can't touch it yet. It is still too hot," the water is practically boiling still. He finally starts to have to drag Hank away from the north grounds to the front grounds. The front gates will open automatically when Forge arrive, without Scott or Hank activating them. It is only when Forge goes through the holo barrier up the driveway, will he be able to see Scott and the blue, furry Hank on the front porch. There is also a garage off to one side, a large one. Slightly behind schedule, a large black van enters the school grounds. Well, parts of it are black. Most of it, however, is covered with large bulky solar panels. They are canted in various directions, with a messy tangle of wires leading from each panel into the van. The driver brings the van in slowly. Considering the precarious angle that many of the solar panels sit at, it's likely that if he drove too much faster some of the panels would snap off. As the van pulls up to the driveway, it slows to a stop. For several seconds, it just sits there, engine idling. But soon enough, one of the back doors on the van opens, and a slightly grubby, overall-wearing man peeks out the back. He steps off the back, moccasin feet making no sound against the pavement as he walks up to the porch. "Hey there." he calls out with a friendly, over the head wave. "I'm here to see the Professor. I'm Forge." Hank has acquired a black base ball cap with the white letters on the front 'NCIS'. As Scott tries to drag him away from the still too hot space shuttle. Hank reaches up and gives Scott a Leroy Jethro Gibbs style head smack. "Probie, I know it's too hot though we have to contain the crime... er accident scene. You keep telling me useless information that I already know about the temperature, I'm demoting you to Tony Dinozzo. Now where is Abby? She's hot." At least he's not insisting on wearing sunshades and having one of the students carry around a stereo with a loop of WHO Songs." Hank then turns to walk up towards the front yard catching sight of Forge. "Hey! Paws to yourself Hank." He sighs. But at least the two are ready to greet their guest. "No more NCIS for you, you are now being grounded." He doesn't mean it. With the arrival of Forge, Scott merely accepts that this man rather be called something other than his given name. Not too strange when one considers the group he hangs out with. "I am Scott, a staff member here, and this is Hank a teacher and researcher here." He offers a hand toward Forge, notciing the moccasin boots with curiosity. "Most everyone is out back searching for debris. The Professor is otherwise occupied right now but asked us to show you the...'item in question'." Sure, like a greenish-black metal space ship that is easily two football fields in length and almost a football length in width is just a 'questionable item'. Thank goodness for holo-emitters to hide the thing. "Pleasure." Forge is a bit terse, but seems affable enough. He takes the offered hand, but only gives it one semi-vigorous shake before releasing it. He gives Hank a half nod as he drops his hand. The hand drops into his pocket, and he pulls out remote that seems too big to actually fit inside the pocket. It's a gnarly contraption, covered in buttons with a huge antenna. He pulls the antenna out, and it telescopes to almost three feet. "Where should I park?" As he asks this, he presses a button on the remote, and the back doors of the van gently shut. All this time, the driver has remained in the front seat, perfectly still. "Actually, it might be best if I had the van follow me out there, it's got all my cool science doodads in the back." "Your definitely Dinozzo, Scott." Then he turns to look at the Native American man in front of him. His big blue furry paw extending out to Forge. " Mr. Silvercloud. I am Dr. Henry McCoy, P.H.D. in biochemistry and M.D. Welcome to the Xavier School and I can quite assure you that we have a situation that goes beyond our normal expertise and could definitely use a consultant on the situation. I would highly suggest a full analysis of the situation including a spectral analysis." Though when Forge says doodads, Scott gets a concerned look. "Ah....that way," and he points to the west side, "You won't have to worry about the maze." Forge is not 'the usual' for Scott. The man does wear very strange red lensed (sun)glasses, but seems to be able to see fine through them. "Is doodad a scientific word or is he being funny?" Scott just has to ask. In either case, "Just follow us then," and starts to lead the way around. The north grounds have been cleaned up some. The picnic tables have been righted, food chucks put into the trash and other bits hosed off into the grass. There are two plates on one picnic table that Scott left with plastic covers for Kitty and TJ for when they came back from searching the north section of the forest. It has been a few hours, perhaps two, not like the forest is small really. Even then, going too far from the enclosed wall likely isn't too wise. In front of the patio in the grass are some pieces of melted debris, and there is a hole in the ground near the patio. What is more interesting though is Breakstone Lake. It almost boils it is so hot. But a greenish-black space ship is half sunk into the thing. It is about two football fields long and almost a football field in width. It is sunk into the lake, but over half still is above the water, reflecting just how huge this thing is. Steam still sometimes rises at times from the lake. Scott and Hank are waking from the west grounds, a very funky van driving behind them. Lily was crouched pretty much as close to the gathered debris as she dared to get, peering at it curiously. Mostly to get her mind off the lake. Because the lake? Is screwed. All the life in it's dead by now, or well on its way. It's going to be a long time before the lake's more than a hole in the ground again, and that makes her very sad. She'd gotten the idea to use the garden hose on the pieces, spraying them down in an attempt to get them cool enough to be touched without causing problems. It seemed to be working, if the lack of steam coming off the smaller bits was anything to go by. Simone has returned and has recorded where she saw debris in the wood, tying yellow ribbons near trees and above on sky visible limbs. She's left things where they were, deeming them still too hot or too heavy to carry back. She does feel confident that she managed to mark everything that there was to find. Jonothon got tired of feeling miserable all by himself, so he's outside sitting on a bit of over turned patio wall near Lily. Isn't helping much, and instead he's sadly watching the lake steam. Like Lily he's very conscious of the destruction of it. No more night time swims he guesses. The teen is feeling better, if one can tell by the fact he's out here, but he doesn't much look it. Still wan and has heavily shadowed eyes. Kurt Wagner might be impulsive, but he does get an idea or two now and again. A trip to one of the landscaping sheds yielded him just what was needed for this treasure hunt. A Wheelbarrow with a metal bed, a shovel and a bit of chain. He shoves a bit gingerly because of the bandaged burns on his hands and feet, but even if the gloves and boots clash with his tropical board shorts and Hawaiian shirt, they're helping a lot to let him be able to move around still on the treasure hunt. He comes back behind Simone with the smaller chunks of debris that we could lift into the wheelbarrow at least. Coming back from wherever she was - with TJ collecting goods, or returned and nomming food, Kitty seems to have calmed down. At least a little bit. Hank is given a grin, faintly, because Kitty knows that the Professor and she are going to be very busy, discovering new things. And, she's honestly looking forwards to that. Quite forward. Scott is glanced at, minimally, but she otherwise continues to more or less ignore him. The van, however, is given a strange sort of look. "Whose that?" She asks, to those gathered, in general. TJ Wagner has been eating again since returning, though she was careful with bits of debris that were still too hot to touch. She hasn't had the chance to get back into regular clothes, so she's still in the red bikini top and bottom. NCIS Hank as he's wearing a black NCIS Hank. Rubs his hands together and all but cackles as he' watches his min... er X-Men work. The mutant looks over at Forge, "That would be what we called you about." Forge's van creeps along the grounds, almost completely silent. In the front, the mannequin-like driver remains almost completely motionless as the van continues to follow its owner like a really big puppy covered in solar panels. As for the owner himself, he simply follows Scott. From one of his many pockets he produces something that apparently used to be a computer keyboard. How exactly he managed to fit an entire keyboard in one of his pockets is anyone's guess. The thing is barely recognizable as such now, with all of the various bits or random technology attached to it. Most prominent is a flip-up LCD monitor. "Hurm... " is all he says as he pushes buttons on the keyboard. His button-pushing is hampered slightly by the over sized remote that he's tucked under his right arm. Kurt Wagner moves over to TJ, removing his Hawaiian shirt, "You are going to be catching cold TJ if you keep wearing so little." He moves to try to drape the shirt over her shoulders. At least it's a red print so it somewhat goes with the bikini. He moves from her towards Scott and his little parade going on, "So were you planning to introduce us to your freund Herr Summers?" Simone follows after Kurt, smirking as he gives TJ his shirt. She glances towards the tall man with the bunch of techo-stuffs. "Hey.." she waves to Hank and his friends. "We found a few more big hunks of junk.. the majority of it seems to be pretty slagged though. We are sure this stuff isn't radioactive..right?" she asks softly. Scott is silent for a moment...what appears to be an alien space ship is in the X-Mansion back yard lake and it draws a Hurm from Forge...that's it? Maybe there are others that have seen a lot of stuff like he, himself. "In either case, I'll leave you and Hank to it." He walks over toward the patio. "Kitty, Kurt why don't you come with me inside?" A pause then, "Jono, you can come along too for a bit if you like." Then Kurt reminds him of his manners. "This is the gentleman that The Professor invited to examine the alien craft. His name is Forge. I am sure you will get to personally introduce yourself over time. Try not to overwhelm him." Scott then shakes his head, "No idea, but doubtful. Not unless the creature inside were immune to radioactivity and for some reason wanted it around them." That's his logic anyway. Scott then moves toward Jono, to offer a hand up if the fellow young man wanted to come with him. TJ Wagner grins at Kurt. "If you don't get cold out here, neither do I. It's still summertime anyway, you know." Still, she's polite enough to let Kurt put the shirt on her for now. She'll just have it 'slip off' soon enough. Kitty gets an inquisitive look before she turns her attention toward Forge, raising a brow at him and the van itself. "Oh, I remember him," she tells Kurt and Simone. "Well, not /that/ him." A bit surprised at the offer, Jonothon nods to Scott. He too had been puzzling over Forge and that strange van, only to look up and accept that help in standing. The teen needs it. Hands move through motions that are sign language, 'What's up?' he asks of Scott, not using his telepathy for some reason. Does pause and leans down to touch Lily's shoulder. No reason other than to say good-bye for now. Even manages a little smile for the young woman before heading inside. Okay, that little trick - pulling out the remote and keyboard, that has Kitty's interest, keenly focused towards Forge. She practically grins at the man, clearly all ready to talk shop, and specs, and tech-talk with this new, strange, individual. And, for the moment, she even loses most of her anger for Scott, and what happened priorly. And then, of course, Scott is ruining the moment. "Nice to - almost meet you, Forge," says Kitty, grousing, some. Scott is given a bit of an 'eye', but she looks back to Forge again. "Can't wait to talk to you." She grins, some. "Be glad to talk computers with someone who can keep up with me." And, with that, she sighs, and turns to head inside to talk with Scott. Lily glances up long enough to wave to Jono, then peers at Forge. "I think these ones here might be cool enough to touch, now." She offers, pointing to the batch closest to her. "I've probably completely ruined any electronics, but it was either this, or wait for a week for them to cool down naturally." Kurt Wagner nods his head to Scott, "Alright, lead the way." He moves towards the Mansion, figuring Scott's going to be moving more quickly than he is at the moment anyways. He just pauses to give Simone a quick kiss. "I shall return soon. Hopefully." he quips and winks at her. "I doubt many electronics survived the heat Lily, not on the scrap," Scott says in assurance to the girl. He helps Jono to stand and remains at his side should the guy need someone to help balance him. He is only slightly assured when TJ mentions having known Forge. So if he was at the school in her dimension...there are differences, but a completely shift in personality and alignment? Perhaps not as high. He then leads the way through the back door, eying the broken window that needs fixed on the way. Hank looks at Forge's invention. "Curious and Curiouser. I take it you have designed a device from a simple keyboard that scans the energy signature and potential radiation coming off the ship? I know there have been recent rumors of space ships but this is not your first one?" He looks at Scott when he says there's no radiation. Well by nature there would be radiation on the material the question is is it more than the ambient levels. Simone nods and gives a wave to Kurt and the others. "Later.." she calls out. Oh boy.. She's definitely going to ask Kurt for the details later. She meanders over to Hank and the Forge guy. "..okay soo.. alien huh?" she wrinkles her nose a bit. "Any signs that this is the only piece? and should we get ready for MIBs or anything?" she half grins. TJ Wagner doesn't have any more information than that for now, but she is watching Forge curiously. Once Kurt's gone she loses the shirt, setting it down nearby on a railing as she goes to check out what the others have figured out so far. "What's up? Anything yet?" Forge is a bit busy smacking the control panel to respond to anyone, and the panel gives off a series of high-pitched squelches. He gives just the briefest of nods each time he is addressed. His interest is thoroughly absorbed. "Magnificent. I knew I should have built that disgronificator, would have come in handy right about now." A series of symbols and numbers flashes across the monitor on his makeshift contraption, prompting yet another 'Hurm." Suddenly his head pops up. "There's no radiation. None whatsoever. In fact, there is no energy coming from the ship at all. Except for... " and then he falls silent again, as he wanders toward the ship. Helped inside, Jonothon motions a sigh and pays little attention to the window. Walking takes some effort still, so he gives that the attention he needs. Hank looks around for a moment, "Quite possible though wouldn't there be radiation from simple space radiation? The shields would be absorbing... Quite intresting." He seems to follow along with Forge, "Mr. Silvercloud, I know I usually am the one keeping the rest of the people in suspense with my dramatic deductions could you please elaborate what you find so perplexing?" Simone smirks at TJ, shaking her head but not further commenting. All the techno babble is so going over her head as she follows the science-y types. Lily 'eeps' when Forge heads towards the ship, and races to restrain him. "No. Bad. HOT!" She yelps. "Boilingly hot!" "Well, of course it's hot, it's gone through the whole 're-entry' thing." Forge shifts things around in his arms, and presses a couple of buttons on the oversized remote that was previously tucked under his arm. The van stops suddenly, and the back doors pop open. "Doctor McCoy, can you give me a hand? I need the cutting maser from the back of the van. Not the cutting laser of course, that wouldn't do any good." "Yeah, dad..uh, Kurt found that out earlier," TJ says when the re-entry thing is brought up, leaving her shaking her head. "And.." Her head tilts as the van is opened up and she just stands back to watch this. "Which part of too hot to be approached did you /not/ understand?" Lily asks. "No one can even get in the lake, the water's so hot. And touching the ship itself ... well, ask Kurt how THAT went. "I'm not going to let you get yourself killed." Hank scratches his head. He's not sure if this guys the real deal yet and just above his head or some quack. But he shrugs, "Sure Mr.Silvercloud. " The the blue ape man heads his way to retrieve the maser from the back of the van." His eyes falling on the various equipment in the van. Simone ers softly "Is there no other way to see what's in side before opening it up? " while she wants to know what's in it, she's also concerned about letting something out! For all they know it could be a Pandora's box. And there's plenty of equipment in the van. Apparently Forge shoved his entire garage into the back of the van. However, most of the pieces of equipment appear to be labeled, even if the label doesn't actually say what it is. Forge looks down at Lily with an arched eyebrow. "I've got no intention of stepping into this... puddle. Not without my hoverboots anyway. Dammit! I should have brought my hoverboots!" He shoves the remote into one of his pockets and begins fiddling with the keyboard. "Here, you can all see for yourself." He turns the monitor around so that everyone can see. Emblazoned on the monitor is a giant question mark, and nothing else. "Only one way to find out what's in this egg, we've got to crack her open." "Not that I know of. Kitty can't hold her breath long enough to phase to reach it, sitting in the middle of the lake the way it is, and teleporting blind is a BAD idea. Seriously bad." Lily says, frowning at the gear Forge has. "And nothing I've ever heard of tech wise would be able to see through the hull." TJ Wagner peers at the readout. Doesn't take much to figure that out. "So you know about as much as we do right now, except the Professor already said it's alien, at least. What are you gonna do it something nasty comes out? Any contingency plans for that in your van? What about some free candy?" She eyes the back of it, then Forge. TJ might actually recognize the ship tech but who knows. Hank quicky finds the maser. Though he eyes a few of the devices Forge has cobbled together from Home appliances to be other things. He can be heard saying, " a blender to make a particle accelerator? Highly unlikely." Then he comes bounding out of the back of the van with the maser. "Aren't you a little old to be going into a strangers van for candy?" Forge flips the monitor back around and starts tapping on the buttons again. "But yes, I've got all kinds of snacks in there." He peers at the monitor for a bit, reconfiguring parameters and whatnot. "Weird... I wonder how they got so much of something so rare... " On the monitor now is a highly detailed map of the entire surface of the ship. Numbers continue to run in a smaller section of the monitor, as the computer tries to calculate god knows what. "I really ought to make a lighter version of this thing." And with that, he presses another button, and four telescoping legs pop out of the bottom of the keyboard. He sets it down on its legs, leaving it to its calculations for the time being. He turns around as Hank returns with the maser. "Awesome. I don't suppose you have a pair of extra goggles do you?" Simone steps back from the shore line. "Any chance it's got some sort of self defense systems? Or you figure everything has shorted out?" she inquires as they get out the cutting device. "It was a joke," TJ clarifies to Forge before stepping back to allow for more room as the guys work on setting up this and that. "Cool," she adds as the legs slide out. "Finally, some fresh technology around here," the female elf grins before growing more serious again. "What's so rare?" comes the question. Well Forge doesn't have any twinkies any more. *innocent whistle* Hank looks at Forge with a look of frustration as he hands over the Maser. "You didn't mention the need of goggles." Bobby probably arranged this to drive Hank crazy and give him a taste of his own medicine. "It's probably best that we pull back then and let Mr. Silvercloud do his job. But I'll go get the goggles." "Well... that's always a possibility I guess. It looks pretty much crapped-out though, don't you think?" Forge turns back around to look at the readout on his computer. "Still not showing any signs of... anything." He turns around again and grabs the really big gun. He grunts out loud as the obvious weight of the device settles onto his relatively slender frame. "It's Forge. Just Forge." He pats the weapon, flipping a couple of switches until a light bulb, literally, an actual light bulb, turns on at the back of the device. "It's not necessary, really. You can all just shield your eyes. The computer will record the results, just thought you might like to check it out." Simone eeps as Forge pulls out a BFG. ".....oh my..." she backs up, manifesting her psi wings just in case. She also backs up a weee bit more. Lily takes one look at the gun and starts backing towards the mansion. "I think I'm needed inside. On cleanup duty. Bye now!" Yeah. Not sticking around for this. TJ Wagner lifts a brow, moves a few steps back as well before pointing toward the rear of the gun-thing. "When that lights up does it mean you had a bright idea?" she teases, though a hand does move to the ready to protect her eyes. Hanks back with the goggles on and eating a twinkee. "Sorry I figured I would be best to watch this demonstration. Can I look directly into the beam. What about the proton pack can I cross the streams?" "All of my ideas are bright, it's sort of my thing." Forge isn't conceited, he's convinced. The lightbulb begins to glow a bit more brightly, prompting Forge to flip down the pair of goggles that rest on his own forehead. "It depends on how well your goggles work, I guess. I've been staring into beams for years and haven't gone nuts yet." He arches one of his eyebrows though, and looks at Hank for a couple of seconds. "Cross a stream of proton energy with microwave energy? I don't see why not, I guess." However, he shrugs the comment off, and holds the gun up at slightly above waist level. He has to hold it at an awkward level, both because of the gun's weight, and because of the many moving parts that begin rotating as he flips one last switch. "Alright gang, cover your eyes." And with that, he squeezes one of the gun's triggers, and the air in front of the weapon distorts as a stream of invisible energy shoots out and hits the hull of the craft. Simone curls her wings out in front of her, using them as a sheild, just incase! She also covers her eyes as suggested. Here's hoping nothing bad happens! "Nope, not nuts at all," TJ murmurs to Simone, then she gives /ample/ room for Forge to do his thing when it all goes bright. Eyes close but she peeks very slightly through her fingers. Hank doesn't look directly into the light. He doesn't want to forget the memorable lines from Ghost Busters after all. The good doctor eyes cut over to the others around him, "Are you planning to trespass into the space craft?" Simone shrugs. "I'm still waiting for the horde of evil alien spider-lego-bots to pop out and eat us all." she grins slyly. Hank stops looking at the numbers, "Interesting, It seems that something on the ship exterior is reflecting back energy and caused a feed back and caused your maser to over load. If I can deduce that from the energy spike. Perhaps its some sort of shielding. Then we have to give the ship time to cool down and use a more conventional method of entry like the jaws of life." Simone wrinkles her nose "I could try to open it with a feather blade..." she suggests slowly. "Oh well. It was worth a shot." Forge grabs the side of the panel and taps a button. The legs retract again and he shoves the entire keyboard into a seemingly regular-sized overall pocket. "It looks like I might have to build a disgronificator after all. What do you say we get started on that, Doctor? Shouldn't take long." And with that, he pulls the remote out of his other pocket and the van turns back on. The back doors shut, and it begins following Forge as he walks back to the mansion. Hank scratches his chin, "I have no idea what a disgronificator is. But I do have a toaster oven I can donate to the cause and I'll help." This could easily be learned that Hank was volunteering Warren's toaster oven but Warren won't notice. He had Jean to heat up his hot pockets in a microwave at college. "I'm sure he could use that," TJ tells Beast before looking back to the ship with a frown. "Think I'm gonna go back inside and change. I've never worn a bikini this long without getting some really good swimming in." Simone shrugs as her suggestion is either ignored or simply not heard. She heads back inside to check on Kurt.